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Formation of a mesospheric inversion layer and the subsequent elevated stratopause associated with the major stratospheric sudden warming in 2018/19
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  • Haruka Okui,
  • Kaoru Sato,
  • Dai Koshin,
  • Shingo Watanabe
Haruka Okui
The University of Tokyo, The University of Tokyo, The University of Tokyo

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Kaoru Sato
University of Tokyo, University of Tokyo, University of Tokyo
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Dai Koshin
The University of Tokyo, The University of Tokyo, The University of Tokyo
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Shingo Watanabe
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
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Abstract

Since 2004, following prolonged stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) events, it has been observed that the stratopause disappeared and reformed at a higher altitude, forming an elevated stratopause (ES). The relative roles of atmospheric waves in the mechanism of ES formation are still not fully understood. We performed a hindcast of the 2018/19 SSW event using a gravity-wave (GW) permitting general circulation model that resolves the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) and analyzed dynamical phenomena throughout the entire middle atmosphere. An ES formed after the major warming on 1 January 2019. There was a marked temperature maximum in the polar upper mesosphere around 28 December 2018 prior to the disappearance of the descending stratopause associated with the SSW. This temperature structure is referred to as a mesospheric inversion layer (MIL). We show that adiabatic heating from the residual circulation driven by GW forcing (GWF) causes barotropic and/or baroclinic instability before the MIL formation, causing in situ generation of planetary waves (PWs). These PWs propagate into the MLT and exert negative (westward) forcing, which contributes to the MIL formation. Both GWF and PW forcing (PWF) above the recovered eastward jet play crucial roles in ES formation. The altitude of the recovered eastward jet, which regulates GWF and PWF height, is likely affected by the MIL structure. Simple vertical propagation from the lower atmosphere is insufficient to explain the presence of the GWs observed in this event.
27 Sep 2021Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres volume 126 issue 18. 10.1029/2021JD034681